BARTLET and JACKSON, N.H. – Led by first-place finishes in the men’s giant slalom, women’s 5K freestyle and men’s 10K freestyle, the Dartmouth College ski team raced to a first-place lead after the first day of competition at the University of New Hampshire Winter Carnival. Friday’s alpine events were held at Attitash while the Nordic venue was Jackson XC.
Dartmouth amassed the top team scores in those three disciplines with 96 points in the men’s giant slalom, 103 in the women’s 5K free and 101 in the men’s 10K free as part of the Big Green’s overall score of 387 points.
The University of Vermont, with a carnival-best 90 points in the women’s giant slalom, is in second place with 350.5 points and is followed closely by Middlebury College at 341.5. Bates College (268 points) and host UNH (266) round out the top five in the 12-team event, which will conclude Saturday.UNH's Veronique Archambault-Leger (Montreal, Quebec), who won last week’s slalom race at St. Michael’s Carnival, recorded the fastest two-run time of 2:22.57 to win the women’s giant slalom on her home course. UVM was led by Kara Crow (2:23.98) and Chelsea Lynch (2:24.97), who placed second and fifth, respectively.
Dartmouth took the top two spots in the men’s giant slalom with Evan Weiss taking the top honors at 2:17.76 and David Chodounsky following closely behind at 2:17.84.
The Big Green also finished 1-2 in the women’s 5K free and had three skiers in the top five. Sara Studebaker was first to cross the finish line in 19:19.6 and was followed by Susan Dunklee (19:40.2). Saari-Trygstad recorded the fifth-fastest time of 19:46.4.
DC had three of the top six performers in the men’s 10K free. Michael Sinnott took top honors in 23:47.0 while Benjamin True was clocked in 24:14.9 for third place and Zachary Hall placed sixth overall in 24:49.7.